GENOMIC IDENTIFICATION OF CAMPYLOBACTER FETUS AND LEPTOSPIRA INTROGANS IN ABORTED SHEEP FETUSES IN THE SELECTED PROVINCES OF IRAN BY PCR

Abortion causes significant economic losses to the livestock investment of a country and reduces fertility and production. Infectious agents are responsible a part of the sheep abortions and often, they are contagious and zoonosis, so they are also considered in terms of public health. Campylobacter fetus and Leptospira introgans are some of the infectious agents of ovine abortion worldwide and economic and hygienic losses resulting from them are significant. Due to the importance of Campylobacterial and leptospiral sheep abortions, in this study 98 samples from abomasal contents of aborted sheep fetuses in Isfahan, Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari and Khorasan Razavi provinces were investigated for Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus and Leptospira introgans by PCR. Results showed that the infection with Campylobacter fetus in the samples studied was 4.9% and any samples weren’t found to be infected with Leptospira. The results of this study showed that campylobacter fetus might be involved in the incidence of a part of sheep abortions.  According to different diagnostic methods of the Leptospira, it seems that any diagnostic procedure has some weaknesses and using only a test is one can’t certainly report that the presence of this agent is negative. Therefore, it is recommended to several methods to be used simultaneously in order to compare the results of several methods and achieve accurate diagnosis.